"Not the ship. The actual, physical alien moth at the center, the one that powers our drive. Something different about the calendar in this time meant they woke up, and Alaric's been talking to them. They turn out to be quite opinionated. In particular, our moth wants to adopt all of the young moths that Remi has been studying. Remi calls them mothlings, the babies, that is."

Sasha's talking to Virmad, but she's still looking at Ashari. She's not sure how far their understanding extends. There's a lot of empty space between 'I will not enthrall you in a meeting' and 'I will protect you from the machinations of my own supervisor.' In the grand scheme of things, if Sasha's right about Quill, they're all in danger. And on a smaller scale, if Ashari takes exception to Sasha's analysis of their files , well . . . they know plenty of ways to hurt her without leaving a mark.